Apparatus for launching, lowering, and raising boats



July 31, 1928. 1,678,928

A. R. T. WOODS APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING, LOWERING, AND RAISING BOATSFiled March 4, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet l ARTHUR QTWoqos J I l l l I I I lJuly 31. 1928.

A. R. T. WOODS APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING, LOWERING, AND RAISING BOATS IFiled llgrch 4, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 MM fimwmw r15 July 31, 1928.1,678,928

A. R. T. WOODS APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING, LOWERING, AND RAISING BOATSFiled March 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 111 Q. 44mm lscm-zmmiif Aermm RTW w11% m 11 14 July 31, 1928. 1,678,928

A. R. T. WOODS APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING, LOWERING, AND RAISING BOATSFiled March 4, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 July 31, 1928. 1,678,928

A; R. T. wooDs APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING, LOWERING, AND RAISING sous FiledMarch 4. 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Liam bmum Patented July 31, 1928.

1 U N [T ED ARTHUR nonnn'r THOMAS woons, or LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR LAUNCH ING, IiOWERING, AND RAISING BOATS.

Application filed March 4, 1927, Serial No. 172,793, and in GreatBritain March 6, 1926.

This invention relates tov apparatus for;

launching, lowering andraising ships. boats which the boats are stowed,the ropes of the said fore-and-aft falls being led over guide pulleys.to respective barrels of: a

power-operated which, the arrangement a being such that the boat isfirst, by the opera,- tion oftheiwinch raised from its chocks, and; thenby simultaneously moving the beams carried clear of the ships side sothat it may be lowered on. to the water, thesi multaneous. movement ofthe beamsin one known mode of construction being eflected by theoperation through wormgear of a shaft arranged at right angles towthebeams v and carrying spur inio'ns gearing respectively with racksattached to the said beams;

and the present invention'has for its object the improvement of this tye of gear and the provision for use incomhinati'on with it of meanswhereby, when the ship is docking, the boats, which in theirv normalinboard position overhang the ships side, maybe 25 stowed furtherinboard. 7

According, to the invention the beainsare moved simultaneously inwardlyand, out wardly by means ofworms gearing directly with racks formed onor attached to the 40 beams, the respective beams beingpreferablyinclined to ,the respective axes of the 7 shafts carrying theoperating worms, so that the rack teeth may be cut with theirsidesnormal to thelength of thebeams; the beams being preferably inclined toa normal transverse plane of the ship,f whereby thesa'id worm shafts arenormal to the fore-and aft centreplane' of the ship and are thereforeadapted to be coupledtogetherby ordinary gearing adapted to eflect.simultaneous operation. I v

The beams are preferably built of channel sections united by sideplates, one of the channel'sof each of the beams having formed on thecentralportion, oflits breadth a vrack adapted toengage with itsrespective operating worm; the guide, brackets by which the beams arecarried being provided with rollers engaging respectively with the upperand lower surfaces of the beams, and the two transverse shafts whichcarry the respective worms being arranged to be operated simultaneouslyby gearing which connects the ,shafts' together and which connects bothshafts to one oi twoormore hand-operated launching gears. V

I,h e means by which the boats, when the shipis docking, can bemovedfrom the posi-] tion in which they are normally stowed, to

an extreme inboard position in which they he within theplane of the sideof the ship; comprises a pair of beams fixed to the under side of thedeck abovethe' boat deck each provided with a trolley shackle carried byrollers adapted to run alongthe inturned edges of the beam, the;arrangementbeing such'that the boat when in it s'normal stowed PQSltiOllis first raised .clear of its checks or skids by operation of thefore-and -ai't falls, after whichthe boat in its rais'e'dposii twotrolleys being then run 'along. their beams andcarrying the boat to itsextreme inboard position." I I The finventionalso includes details ofconstruction as hereinafter, described and claimed. I

lhaveillustrated iny invention in the accompanying drawings, in which:

'Fig. 1 is a part elevation showing tour adjacent boatshoused on thelower deck with the sliipastructure arranged so as to permitthelaunching and stowage oi the b'o'ats. t V.

a Fig. 2 is an elevation to aflargercscale; Fig. 3 a plan, i Fig. 4 aside elevation in section, and

Fig. 5 a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the beams and gear for haulingtheboat into its extreme inboard position when theship s doc i g- Fig.6'. is a plan view showing the boat in its inboard positionishown infull lines- Fig. 5. f lTigs. 7 to 9-illustrate details of construction.i i

1 Fig. 7, being a transverse sectionthrough one of the beams, f

.Fig. 8 a transverse section of the trolley shackle and beam, and

fFig. 9' a part plan ofthe gears for operating the worms.

I 1,678,928 PATENT OFFICE. Q g

c so tion is slung from the trolleyshackle, the" The beams D and D areslidably carried in brackets 03 and (Z The bracket (Z10 is directlycarried from the deck A the bracket cl is carried from a main bracket Kalso secured to the deck A The bracket d is fitted with bearing rollers(Z (P and the bracket K is fitted with a bearing roller (Z Each of thebeams is built up, see Fig. 7 of channel sections (Z and (Z united byside plates (Z The member (Z 1 has formed on the central portion of itsbreadth a rack The respective racks of the beams engage with respectiveworms M and M each worm being keyed to one end of a shaft m one end ofwhich is journalled in the bracket m the other end being journalled inthe bracket m and carrying a spur wheel m gearing with a pinion keyed toa spindle m one end of which'is carried in the bracket m and the otherend of which is carried in a bracket m secured to the deck-housebulkhead a The spindle m has keyed to it a chain wheel m which is gearedby a chain wa to a chain wheel m mounted on a spindle m one end of whichis journalled in a bracket m and the other end being journalled in abracket m carried from the deck-house bulk-head. .The shaft m has asquared end to take the operating handle m The'shaft m is connected insimilar manner to the shaft m the intervening members being similarlylettered to the corresponding members described but distinguished by anaccent mark. a i

The forward chain wheel m has formed on its outer surface bevel teeth mgearing with a bevel pinion m keyed on ashaft m" carried in brackets m;the aft end of the shaft m carries a bevel pinion m gearing with a bevelwheel mformed on the inside of the chain wheel m The two worms M and Mmay therefore be operated by either the forward handle m or aft handle mf". The axes of the wormsM and M and their shafts m and m are arrangedathwart ships, but each of the beams D and D is inclined to the axis ofthe worm wheel and its shaft at an angle corresponding with the angle ofthe threads of the worm.

The forward boat fall E passes from the boat winch F round the fair leadroller (2 (see Figs. 2 and 3) round the pulley e thence round the fixedpulley 6 carried from the bracket Z then under the guide pulley (Z (seeF4) carried by the beam D and over the pulley (Z carried on the outerend of the beam D and thence to the boat releasing gear c of the boat C.The aft fall E passes from the boat winch under the fair lead rollers 6(see Figs. 2 and 3) thence over the fair lead roller 0 round the fixedpulley 6 and thence to a pulley 6" carried on the bracket d of the aftbeam, thence (see Fig. 6) under and over the pulleyd and oi carried bythe aft beam and so to the aftattachment to the boat 0.

The boat winch F may be of any suitable or usualtype adapted to beoperated either by power or by hand, and the barrel is usually dividedinto two sections one for the forward fall and the other for the aftfall.

In launching a boat, the boat-winch is operated so as to lift the boatclear of the skids G (see Figs. 2 and 5) upon which the boat is usuallymounted in the position shown in full lines in F ig.4. The worms M and Mof the two boat beamsare then operated by one or bothof the handles mand m through the gear described, rotareach the position shown in dottedlines in Fig. 8 the boat is ready for lowering.

l/Vhen the boat has to be taken in and housed aboard the operationsdescribed are:

carried out in reverse order. p

It will be seen that the outward half of the boat in the stowed positionshown in full lines in Figs. 3, 4 and 6 extends outwardly beyond thesides of the ship. Should this projection interfere with the docking orother movements of the ship, provision is made for stowing the boatsfurther inboard,

as shown in Fig. 5. A beam P is fixed to' the under side of the deck Aconsisting (see Fig. 8) of two side members p having inturned edges p,secured to the deck beam a by bolts p and distance pieces 10*. A U-shaped trolley shackle Q is provided having at each endan eye 9 a shaftg carrying a pair of rollers 9 the respective rollers of the pairrunning in the concave guides formed by the turned-over ends 12 Thedetailsof constructions in other respects may be modified in accordancewith the type of switch to which the gear is applied.

Having now fully described my invention, I declare that what I claim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In apparatus of the typereferred to for launching, lowering and raising ships boats, incombination; launching beams for the boats; a rack on each launchingbeam; a worm engaging with each rack; athwart ship shafts carrying saidworms; operating gear connected to the athwart-ship shafts to move thelaunching beams in an inboard or outboard direction; substantiallyas-described.

, 2. In apparatus constructed in accordance with claim 1, mounting thelaunching beams on the underside of an upper deck, and providing theships side which the boats can tially as described.

3. In apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in combination; a pair oflaunching beams the outer ends of which are provided with pulleys totake the respective falls passing to the boat winch, the respectivebeams being slidably carried from the deck by brackets fitted withrollers, the upper faces of the launching beams carrying racks and apair of worms respectively engaging with said racks and carried onathwart ship worm shafts; the inner ends of said shafts being connectedtogether and to operating means to impart simultaneous longitudinalmovement to the two launching beams; substantially as described.

4. In apparatus as claimed in claim 1, a chain wheel to actuate eachworm shaft, a

with openings through be launched; substanhandle shaft provided with achain wheel to operate the respective chain wheels on the worm shaftsfor imparting simultaneous longitudinal movement to the two launchingbeams; substantially as described.

5. In apparatus as claimed in claim 1, arranging the launching beams atan angle inclined to the athwart-ship worm shafts and arranging theteeth of the rack at right angles to the launching beam; substantiallyas described.

6. In combination with apparatus as claimed in claim 1; a pair ofathwart-ship beams; a trolley shackle on each beam from which shacklesthe boat is adapted to be suspended; substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set myhand. p

ARTHUR ROBERT THOMAS WOODS.

